Paper

1994.35

William A. McGill

Gift

Gift of William A. McGill

1865

5-7/16 in

8-3/8 in

Cultural/Historical Context

"Sir Francis Seymour Haden studied at University College, London and completed his education at the Sorbonne, Paris, receiving a medical degree (1840). He established himself as a leading surgeon of obstetrics, the branch of medicine concerned with pregnancy and childbirth. Though Haden had not attended art school he took an interest in etchings, making his first sketches from nature in 1843. His study of print portfolios containing works by Dürer, Lucas van Leyden, and Rembrandt resulted in his written scholarly treatise entitled The Etched Work of Rembrandt critically considered (1877) coupled with an exhibition at the Burlington Fine Arts Club. He later published The Etched work of Rembrandt True and False (1895). Sir Francis, Knighted in 1894, became the foremost British advocate for etching, bringing about its revival in England. His activities resulted in the foundation of the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers, & Engravers (1880). Haden affirmed himself as one of two most important British 19th-century etchers, with his brother-in-law, James A. McNeil Whistler (Haden married Whistler’s sister in 1847). Haden is among the first of printmakers to draw directly on plates outdoors. He encouraged Whistler to follow suit, a suggestion Whistler appreciated enough to dedicate his first set of etchings, “The French Set,” to Sir Francis. Years later (1867) the two would never again speak after an argument concluding with Whistler pushing Haden through a plate-glass window. A catalogue of Sir Francis’s work exists, begun by Sir William Drake and completed by H. N. Harrington in 1880, The Engraved Work of Seymour Haden, an illustrated & descriptive catalogue. Haden remained active late into life, taking up Mezzotint, a sister process to etching/engraving, as successfully as his earlier dry-points and etchings. Haden received the Grand Prix, Paris in 1889 and membership of the Institut de Français (1900)."